


Blame

by Kiiyu



Series: Blame Series [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, I take the comfort in hurt/comfort very seriously, Langst, Panic Attack, Post S6, cow slobber
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-19 22:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 5,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15520461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiyu/pseuds/Kiiyu
Summary: After the destruction of the Castle of Lions team Voltron begin their journey to return to earth. Everyone is happy to be returning home after such a long time. Even Lance is.Or at least he wishes he could be.Lance begins to deal with the emotional cost of his own death and his guilt over Kuro's deception.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there everyone. I started writing this on tumblr as a one off only to be kinda stunned at the response I got! So I've decided to move the whole thin over here. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I had writing it!

Lance felt like the entire universe had upended when Keith told them about Shiro. He felt sick to his stomach at the realization that Shiro had been reaching out to him for help. That he had dismissed it so easily.

His fingers flexed their vice-like grip on the levers of the red lion. His back rigid as he followed the rest of team voltron through space. He should feel excited and happy to be going home after so long.

Why couldn’t he just be happy?

It seemed at each and every turn he managed to fuck something up.

This whole situation was his fault. If he had just said something about Shiro calling out to him on the astral plane then this wouldn’t have happened.

Allura and Coran wouldn’t have lost their last bit of home. He could have stopped all this. When Keith left he was supposed to be Shiro’s right hand man, literally.

He should have seen this coming.

He should be better than this.

He should just leave the team once they got to earth.

They would be so much better without-

Lance startled at the sudden pain to his head. “Yeooooow!”

He swatted his hands at Kaltenecker, pushing the cow away from his head and his delicious  (apparently ) hair.

“My hair is not food! Do you know how hard it is to get cow spit out of hair? Very! And we don’t even have showers or shampoo! Now I have to live in horrible slobbery misery!” Lance shouted.

Kaltenecker just stared at Lance for a long moment before mooing almost apologetically.

Before Lance could say anything further the comms crackled to life and Hunk’s concerned face popped up on the monitor.

“Hey Lance, you doing ok their buddy? You’re kinda falling behind.” said Hunk.

Almost immediately everyone else’s faces started popping up on his screens. He stared into everyones faces in turn before landing on Shiro. His startling white hair making Lance’s stomach twist with guilt.

“I’m fine.”


	2. Part 2

Lance’s stomach was rolling. It had been nearly two weeks since they had started their journey home. They had been stopping every ‘night’ to eat and rest and they had only just landed on a small uninhabited yellow and grey planet. After nearly two weeks of avoiding his problems he was now trapped, literally.

“Come on Lance. Please tell me what’s wrong. You’ve been avoiding me.” Shiro called softly from behind Lance.

Lance’s eyes raked over the alien landscape desperately thinking of a way to escape the impending confrontation. “ Hah, I’m not avoiding you dude. I’m fine, im just-”

His breath was coming in sharper and sharper pulls.

“-I’m just a bit on edge from having like nothing to do out here. Like it’s just so boring-”   his voice cut off mid sentence with a soft croak at the sudden appearance of the warm calloused hand on his shoulder.

“Whatever it is Lance, you can tell me. I’m right here if you need me. Whatever you need.”

'How can you stand to look and me, much less talk to me when this is all my fault. When it’s all my fault that you were trapped in the black lion while I blindly followed around that imposter. When you called out to me for help and I just ignored you like some idiot.’ Lance wanted to say.

But instead he said in an even and almost cheerful voice.

“Im fine Shiro, don’t you worry your pretty little head.”


	3. Part 3

Something was wrong with Lance and they all knew it. Ever since the battle against Lotor and the loss of the castle-ship he had been acting strange. He had allways been loud and boisterous, his personality filling any room he was in. Recently though he would go through long stilted silences before excusing himself. Lance would laugh off any concern directed at him before managing to slip away unoticed a few minutes later.

Everyone had noticed his avoidance of Shiro. It was painfully obvious. Anytime Shiro spoke to Lance it was like he’d been electrocuted, he’d never meet Shiro’s eyes, and more often than not he’d cut off mid sentence and leave without saying anything.

Shiro had been the first to go and talk to Lance. He had hoped to resolve whatever issue had cropped up between them. But Lance had deflected all of his inquiries with a laugh and a smile.

Next Hunk went to him. They had all thought surely that Lance’s best friend would be the best person to get Lance to open up. It went about the same as it went with Shiro. A laugh. A smile. Deflection.

So next Coran went. As an adult he had infinitely more experience with such matters and surly he could get Lance to open up. He was meet with same unmovable obstacle as the others. A laugh. A smile. Deflection.

After Coran Keith tried his best. He planned on using their past rivalry to get a rise out of Lance. He had hoped to rile Lance up enough that the boy would just blurt out what was wrong. It went wrong really fast and ended with two broken noses. After that Lance started avoiding Keith as much as he did Shiro.

Allura tried next. She put all of her charm and charisma into comforting Lance. The strangest thing was he didn’t react. He didn’t flirt with her. He laughed. He smiled. He deflected.

Now Pidge was the last one left.

He laughed.

He smiled.

He deflected.

Until she hogtied him to his pilots chair.


	4. Part 4

Pidge was staring Lance down with one hell of a vicious glare. “ What the hell is going on with you?”

Lance raised an eyebrow before looking back and forth between rope tying him to his seat and Pidge in front of him. “Can’t you tell? I’ve been baking cakes.” He said feigning calm while inside he was practically writhing in panic.

Pidge gave a small ‘hmm’ in response before reching down to pick up a basketball sized bag. She reached in and pulled out a small pebble. It was pink and green, clearly from the planet they had landed on only an hour ago.

She threw it at Lance’s head with moderate force and let it ping off his forehead.

“OW! What the hell Pidge!”

“Tell me what’s wrong with you.” She said with steely determination.

“What’s wrong with me?! You’ve tied me to a chair and you- OW STOP THROWING ROCKS AT ME DAMMIT!” Lance yelled , only getting louder when the second pebble smacked him in the forehead.

Pidge pulled out a third pebble and rolled it between her fingers. “What the hell is up with you Lance? You’ve been avoiding Shiro like crazy.”

“Whaaaaaaat? I haven’t been avoiding Shiro. You’re just imagini- OW! WOULD YOU STOP IT WITH THE ROCK THROWING ALLREADY? ”

“I’ll stop throwing rocks when I get my space-brother back.” Pidge mutterd. “We’re all worried about you Lance. I’M worried about you. You’ve been acting strange for weeks now. You barely talk to us anymore and you don’t talk to Shiro at all.”

Lance stared in mild shock as Pidge’s eyes began to water and her started wavering.

“Please Lance. Please tell me what’s wrong. Let me fix whatever it is. I miss you.”

The guilt rolling in his stomach made him sick and it all but pushed his next words out of his mouth.

“…..I’m sorry.” He swallowed hard and pushed himself to continue.

“I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”


	5. Part 5

Lance was sobbing like a child and he was beyond embarrassed. He didn’t even have the option of covering his face with his hands because they were still tied to his pilots chair. He felt each nasty sob bubble up from deep within and try as he might he couldn’t stop them. The fact that it was Pidge of all people who was witnessing his breakdown only made it infinitely worse. Here he was blubbering like a pathetic idiot in front of the person who had become something of his surrogate sister in the past year and a half and WHY COULDN’T HE JUST STOP!

Pidge stared on in shock as Lance disolved into tears. “I-…… Lance what do you mean it’s all your fault?”

His respone was to draw his shoulders further up against his ears and half mumble and sob “Like you don’t already fucking know.”

She frowned for a moment “Well I have a feeling you’re not talking about how ‘ignoring us is all your fault’. So no Lance, I don’t fucking know, wanna enlighten me?”

At that his head snapped up and his sobbing cut off abruptly. He stared at her in disbelief and Pidge felt herself grow uncomfortable under Lance’s gaze the longer he held it. Lance couldn’t fathom what Pidge could possibly mean. To him it was as clear as daylight. His failings and flaws. Each and everyone of his mistakes a bright neon path of destruction that had led them to where they were now.

Finally he spoke in an almost ragged voice. “Everything, just everything. If it weren't for me we’d still have the castle. If it weren’t for me Allura and Coran wouldn’t have had to loose the last bit of home that they have left. If it weren’t for me that clone wouldn’t have run off with Lotor .” His voice gradually grew louder until he was nearly screaming at the top of his lungs, “AND IF IT WEREN’T FOR ME SHIRO WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN STUCK IN THE GOD DAMN BLACK LION WHILE WE WERE ALL JUST GALAVANTING AROUND WITH THAT FUCKING IMPOSTER. I SHOULD HAVE NEVER-”  He cut himself off panting.

Pidge had jumped to her feet in surprise when Lance had started screaming. Whispering she said “What Lance, you should have never what Lance?”

“I should have never come back. Allura should have just let me stay dead.”


	6. Part 6

“What.”

Lance felt his stomach flip and he immediately regretted saying anything at all.

“What do you mean ‘stay dead’?” Pidge said, there was an unnatural stillness to both her voice and body. When Lance didn’t say anything in return she grabbed him by the shoulders. “What do you mean 'STAY DEAD’?”

Again all Lance was able to do was stare at his knees. He was hyperventilating now. Each breath was crashing in him like an ocean’s wave.

“Because 'stay dead’ would imply that you actually died in the first place and….. and you didn’t die….” Pidge’s hands were shaking, her knuckles going white where they gripped Lance’s shoulders. Her shaking hands nearly covered up how hard he was shaking in return.

She stared in horror. “You didn’t die.”

He couldn’t breath.

“You couldn’t have died.”

He wanted to run.

“Lance say something……”

He could taste blood. He had bitten through his bottom lip.

“Oh my god, you died.”


	7. Part 7

Lance couldn’t breath.

His entire world had narrowed down to just the panic strangling him and the sharp metallic prickle in his mouth that made the rest of his body go numb. Suddenly the energy ropes became a terrifying crushing weight around his chest instead of an annoyance. 

“I can’t b-breath. I CAN’T BREATH!” Lance began violently thrashing against the restraints.

“Oh god, oh god, oh god. Lance hold on I’ll get you out.” Pidge yelped. She had to fight against Lance and his flailing to get the ropes off of him. When she finally did though he knocked her to the ground in his hurry to jump out of the seat.

His knees nearly gave out but with the aid of his blind panic he managed to stumble to his feet. For a long moment he stared at Pidge. His eyes were wide with fear and his face streaked with fresh tears.

“Lance....” Pidge said carefully while reaching out with a tentative hand.

That alone was able to startle him into motion. He took of running. He was down and out of the lion before Pidge couldn’t even get to her feet.

Lance raced away from his lion and away from their makeshift campsite, stumbling and tripping over various desert shrubberies.

He ran until he tripped and fell into a small purple stream, where he curled up still sopping wet and cried. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back at the base of the red lion’s ramp Pidge desperately searched for Lance and when she couldn’t find him she did the only thing she could think of. She sprinted past the rest of the Voltron lions towards the the campfire nearly a hundred feet away. She could hear the quite laughter of her friends and the sharp sounds of sporks against plates. She skidded to a stop, narrowly avoiding the fire. “Lance ran off! He started crying and saying he couldn’t breath! He said-.” Pidge yelled frantically. Then her eyes landed on Allura and a vicious snap of rage pushed it’s way through her. “Why didn’t you TELL anyone he died!?”


	8. Part 8

Princess Allura of Altea had suffered many things in her life. She had lost her mother at an early age before ever having the chance to know her. She had lost many friends in the war against the Galra. She had then lost her planet, her people, and her father in one devastating blow. She had lost nearly 10,000 years to a forced dreamless sleep.

She had fallen in love with Lotor and had lost that said love to his cruel and twisted mind. She had even lost the castle of lions to avoid the destruction of all known universes.

She had nearly lost both Lance and Shiro.

But she had also gained many things.

She had gained a new family in the paladins of voltron. She gained an everlasting friendship and psychic bond with her mice. She made many allies and friends across the known universe. She became the pilot of the blue lion. She had even gained back once more her people. Her people who had been trapped inder Lotor’s control but still alive!

She had even learned humility and tolerance in the face of Keith’s galra ancestry. She even traveled to Oriande to learn the secrets of ancient Altean alchemy.

But when Pidge started explaining to everyone about Lance’s emotional breakdown and his fleeing Allura came to learn something else.

“-and then he ran off before I could stop him. Guys he said he wished Allura never brought him back.”

She had made a mistake. It was not one done out of cruelty or simple uncaring for Lance’s wellbeing. It was one from ignorance.

“Guy’s what-” Pidge stuttered, her voice catching. “What if he hurts himeself?”

Allura would be ignorant of her hand in Lance’s suffering no more.

“We wont let him. *I* wont let him. We will find him and bring him home. Then we will do whatever it takes to make this right. I swear to you Pidge.” Allura said, every inch of her postire pure determination.


	9. Part 9

It was nearly a full thirty minutes before Lance had calmed enough to drag himself from the stream. His mouth felt like glue and his chest ached from the now abated sobs. It was like a fog had filled his brain numbing every emotion he felt.

Every emotion except shame that is.

His entire conversation with Pidge was playing in his head in a vicious loop.

He had told her the one thing he never wanted to tell anyone.

It wasn’t like he actually wanted to die. He liked being alive. He enjoyed life. Loved spending time with his friends. Took pride in defending the universe.

Sometimes though a dark thought would slip into his mind during the quieter moments while they traveled through space. Whenever his thoughts would turn to Shiro and how he had aided in his suffering, another thought would creep its way in.

‘Maybe it was a mistake for me to survive.’

The thought would scare him and he often did his best to ignore it. He tried to pretend he never had it.

Tried to pretend he was fine.

Tried to ignore the worried looks his friends gave him.

Tried to ignore the dark feeling inside.

He had ruined all that hard work in just a handful of words. He had absolutely no clue how to deal with the coming fallout of those words. Lance wanted nothing more than to take those words back and to never have to look at his friends disappointed faces.

But no matter what he wanted he had a said those words and Pidge had heard them.

Lance let out a weary sigh. “Time to face the music I guess.” He stood running a had through his wet hair.

He was just trying to figure out which way was back to camp when Keith’s space dog tackled him to the ground.


	10. Part 10

Teleporting via space dog is awful. It makes your entire body feel like your bare teeth are being dragged across concrete. It also makes the entire world taste like the color blue for almost a full minute afterwards. 

Which is why Lance is currently laying under a 162 pound space dog cursing in every language available to him.

“HOLY FUCKING CHRIST WHY!?” Lance raged. “SHIT- OW- JUST GET OFF OF ME ALLREADY! ”

He fought and flailed against the panting hairy mass pining him down. Yorak simply gave a lopsided doggy grin to Keith and Hunk who stood in shock about 8 feet away. Hunk was the first to break out of his stupor, racing over to grab Lance by the wrists and drag him out from under Yorak.

“Ah….Yorak…..release?” Keith said, still very confused and shocked that his earlier comand to the dog to ‘go fetch Lance’ had actually worked.

Yorak rolled off Lance and onto his back, for paws waving in the air asking for belly rubs for a job well done. Without the weight pining him down coupled with Hunk’s strength Lance nearly went flying through the air. He managed to headbutt Hunk in the chest though. Lance was quickly scooped up into Hunk’s massive arms in a firm, if a bit desperate, hug. “Oh buddy I was so worried about you. Pidge and Allura filled us in on everything.” He pulled away to look Lance in the eye. “Please don’t die. I don’t know what I’d do without you man, your my best friend.” Lance could only stare into Hunk’s warm brown eyes for a moment before whispering “….but it’s all my fault that Shiro couldn’t come back..” Both Keith and Hunk looked at each other in dismay and at a loss for words. Keith moved swiftly into Lance’s line of sight and grabbed one of his shoulders. “How the hell is that your fault? And even if it was-” Keith broke off looking up into the distance to see the rest of the group approaching them at a quick pace. “Even if that was true, that doesn’t mean we’d want to loose you too.” He looked back at Lance with steel in his gaze. “I’ve lost enough family in my life, I’m not about to loose any more.”


	11. Part 11

After finding Lance the group had come to the decision to pause the oncoming discussion until they returned to camp. Once there Coran suggested waiting until after dinner, pointing out that Lance had never eaten and that the boy seemed quite pale. In a flurry of motion Keith was leading Lance to a seat near the fire,  Hunk was scooping out huge ladle fulls of food goo, and Pidge had slipped off only to return a scant few minutes later with one of her own personal blankets.

Lance was wrapped up tight in the softest blanket imaginable, it felt like a cloud and a newborn kitten had a baby together. With Hunk pressed to his left side and Pidge to his right, Lance began to slowly eat.

The other’s sat in a loose circle aroun the fire valiantly trying not to stare at Lance. The tension in the air only eased when Yorak tied to steal some food directly from Lance’s spoon. His startled laugh seemed to soothe the worry in his friends. 

If he was able to laugh then maybe things weren’t as bad as they seemd. 

Maybe they could still make things right. 

But when Lance had finished his food that unseen tension seemed to return tenfold.  Lance’s shoulders tensed and raised almost to his ears. 

There was no use trying to delay the inevitable.

He huffed out a breath. “So I guess you guys have questions?” 

They all looked between themselves but Shiro was the first to speak. “We do have a few questions. Pidge said you think it’s your fault that I was….” Shiro glanced aound the group looking for the right words to say. 

Keith was the one to come to the rescue. “You said it was all your fault that Shiro couldn’t come back from the astral plane. Why?” 

Lance flinched at Keith’s question. He had been expecting it but not in such a blunt manner.  

Why? 

There were so many ways he could answer. He could lie and say something pretty. He could say something mean and derail the conversation. He could stay silent and say nothing. Or…… 

He could tell the truth. 

He could bleed out this festering wound inside of him. 

“……becaus when Shiro reached out to me on the astral pane I just ignored him. I barely even questioned what happened. And worst of all I didn’t tell anyone what happened. I knew something was wrong with Shiro- I mean the clone- shit- that fucking clone. But I didn’t say anything. I’m so sorry Shiro. I’m so sorry, I’m supposed to be your friend and I let you down.” Lance’s voice began to break and his eyes began to water. “I-…..I don’t.. ….I just-” He buried his face in his hands. 

Shiro moved to kneel in front of Lance. Pulling Lance’s hands away from his face and holding them in his left Shiro let their eyes meet. 

“I don’t even know how you can stand to look at me!” Lance cried. 

Shiro squeezed Lance’s fingers gently. 

“Because it’s not your fault. None of it was.”


	12. Part 12

Shiro gave Lance a sad smile. He was heartbroken that his dear friend had suffered so much for so long when didn't have to. He wished that he could take back the last few weeks and spare Lance the heartache and the turmoil that h had lived through. But unless Allura was seriously holding out on them that was impossible. What he could do now was clear the air.

"Lance what happened to me was not your fault."

"-But if I had just paid attention!" Lance rushed out but was stopped by Pidge elbowing him in the ribs gently. He turned and pinned her with a confued look.

She just wrapped her arms around his right arm and rested her temple on his shoulder. "Keep going Shirio."

"Lance what happened to me and......the clone was not your fault. It was Haggar's." Shiro took a deep breath. "I died Lance and when you saw me in the astral plane I was only just getting my strength back. No matter how much attention you would have paid me or how hard I'd have tried wouldn't have made a diffrence. It was only recently I became strong enough to contact anyone. Even then it was only when Keith was in the Black Lion."

"But I knew somethng was wrong! I didn't say anything! If I had said something-"

Hunk cut Lance off. "Dude we all knew something was up with Shiro. No one could have known it was because he was a clone! Not even you!"

Coran stood and walked over to Lance and placed a hand on his head. "You have made many mistakes in you life my boy, we all have. And you will continue to make them throughout your life. But believe me when I say this. This was not your mistake. You are just as at fault as the rest of us here. If none of us here are to blame then why should you be?"

Pidge gave a breathy laugh into Lance's shoulder. "Yeah dude, save some blame for the rest of us."

He bit his lip looking between all of his friends. "But....."

Keith crouched down next to Shiro. "No buts'. You didn't do anything wrong Lance and we're not gonna let you think that. Ever."

Lance's voice shook when he spoke. "It's not my fault?"

Almost in unison they all spoke.

"Nope."

"Of course not."

"Hell no."

"No."

"Never my boy."

" 'course not bro."

That made Lance smile so hard he nearty started cryin again.

Allura cleared her throat and moved forward to stand in front of Lance. "Now that that has been cleared up. It has come to my attention that I have been somewhat........ neglegent in some areas of our friendship."

Lance's eyebrows nearly met his hairline. "Neglegent? Hows that?" he sounded incredulous, and nearly on the verge of laughing.

"You died Lance and I did not treat that with the proper respect you deserved. I should have made sure you were ok after such an..... event and....." She glanced over at Pidge. "And it was not something that I should have left the others in the dark about for so long."


	13. Part 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So im thinking of actually adding in some plot to this story, maybe, im not to clear if its even gonna work out, we shall see.

Lance stared at Allura for a long moment. "Whoah, why are you apologizing for that?"

"Because you deserved to be treated better than that Lance......" Allura seemed to be gathering herself up for something big.

Lance reached out for her hand, which she accepted with a kind but pained smile. "You don't have to apologize for anything Princess." In his rush to to comfort Allura he said the something he really shouldn't have.

"It wasn't even that big of a deal!"

Keith's reaction was immediate. 

"What the hell do you mean it wasn't a big deal. It's a very big deal, you died Lance." He seemed to realise something. "Pidge said you wish Allura hadn't brought you back...... You don't want to die do you....?"

That was the question wasn't it.

Did he want to die.

Did he want to die?

It was a complicated question with complicated answers. And Lance had a feeling 'I don't know' wasn't gonna cut it.

For a lack of anything to say he stayed silent.

The longer Lance went without saying anything the more worried the group began to look. 

"Well!" Keith demanded. 

Lance winced and his shoulders immediately came up around his ears at Keith's tone. He sounded pretty angry, maybe even a little desperate. Lance wanted to answer him but he didn't have a clue what to say.

"I- I don't know....."

Keith didn't seem to happy about that, snapping at Lance almost immediately. "What do you mean you don't know? It's not that hard of a question, it's a yes or a-"

He was cut off by Krolia grabbing his shoulder firmly. "Breath, I don't think Lance will be able to give you any answers if you chase him off" she said gently. 

Sure enough when Keith turned back around and really looked at Lance he could see it. Lance looked freaked out and moments away from bolting. So he held his tongue and waited. They all did.

Lance was practically chewing through his bottom lip.

"It's not that I WANT to die it's just......." he was suddenly feeling claustrophobic with everyone pressing in around him. "I uhm, I need-shit, I need some space."

He wiggled out from between Pidge and Hunk, both of whom had been deathly silent this whole time and from the looks on their faces they were also deathly afraid. It was like a puch to the gut to realise he was the cause. He began to pace around the campsite slowly, refusing to meet anyone's gaze.

"So like I don't want to die, not really. I think? But uhm.... Sometimes it just feels like." His steps were becoming more hurried. He could feel the panic in his bones. It was so hard for him to say and he was so scared. 

So he decided the best way to do this was to treat it like a bandaid. 

"I don't really wanna die but-sometimesitalmostseemseasierandthatreallyfreaksmeoutI'msosorry"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's kinda hard trying to read a sentence with no spaces, so to make it easier here it is
> 
> "I don't really wanna die but-sometimes it almost seems easier and that really freaks me out I'm so sorry"


	14. Part 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is the end of Blame. I might continue this in a sequel. I do have a bit of an idea to continue this with an actual plot with ~mysteries~ and shit.

"Lance, buddy. I don't think any of us really got any of that..." Hunk said gently, holding out a hand as if to try and calm Lance.

Lance swallowed hard, very much aware of all eight pars of eyes focused on him. "I don't WANT to die....not really. But sometimes it just.......it just seems like the easier choice and-" his voice began cracking "a-and it freaks me out and I- I don't know what to do......"

He was suddenly folded into a pair of arms and he found himself burying his face into Coran's warm sholder. "I- I'm so sorry. I know it's bad a-and I shouldn't, but I just can't -"

More bodies began to press into his sides and back.

He felt Pidge press into his left side, her nose diging into his ribs.

He felt Allura press in behind Pidge, one of her hands carding through his hair.

He felt Shiro and Keith slide into his right side. Shrio's arm wrapped around his shoulder. Keith wormed his arms around Lance, doing his best to work his way around Pidge.

Hunk pressed against Lance's back with his arms wrapped against his chest.

Yorak somehow managed to wrave between the forest of legs to press against Lance's hip. He let out a soft whine.

"I'm sorry Lance. I wish you had told us this sooner. We wont just let you die my boy. We'll find a way to help you." Coran whispered into Lance's hair.

They all began whispering their own encouragement to Lance.

"We'll do whatever it takes."

"You wont have to do this alone."

"I love you man, you can do this."

"It's gonna be ok."

For the first time in weeks Lance felt the pain in his chest ease.

It wasn't gone.

But in the comforting embrace of his friends....

It was easier to believe.

Maybe it wasn't his fault.

And if he started crying at the thought?

Who could blame him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly could help myself with the cheesyness of the last line. Sorry not sorry


End file.
